Linus Torvalds on requiring the root password for mundane tasks. "So here's a plea: if you have anything to do with security in a distro, and think that my kids (replace 'my kids' with 'sales people on the road' if you think your main customers are businesses) need to have the root password to access some wireless network, or to be able to print out a paper, or to change the date-and-time settings, please just kill yourself now. The world will be a better place." Yes, it's harsh (deal with it, Finns don't beat around the bush), but he's completely and utterly right. While there's cases where it makes sense to disable certain settings (public terminals, for instance), it is utterly idiotic that regular home users have to type in their root password for such mundane tasks.

This is wrong. sudo is great for desktops. However, for servers, you should never use sudo. Why? Most servers have servers such as openssh and mail running. That means someone can brute force your password remotely. If you have a root password set, then even if they get into your account, they must take the time to brute force root. Hopefully this extra time will make it possible for someone to notice the attack.

Full sudo rights on a server == full root for everyone on the internet courtesy of botnets.